Saients - How Cool Is That?

Do you know what missiles at night look like? They look like this:

and this:

and these:

But do you know what they do not fucking loOK LIKE?? THIS:

OR THIS:

And they don’t fucking sound like this (listen with earbuds/headphones): https://twitter.com/angelsuxx/status/663202170502680577

This has been disproving the government’s bullshit with Lily

please drop some rad megalodon facts my sweet dude

Reaching lengths of up to 60 feet and an estimated maximum weight of over 60 tons (that’s 20x as heavy as todays Great White), the Megalodon is the largest known predator in Earth’s history. The only existing marine animal that’s larger is the blue whale, which can grow as big as 100 feet and weigh more than 150 tons.

While most adult Megalodon teeth fell into the 4-5” size range, a few massive, fossil teeth have been found in excess of 7”. The largest verifiable Megalodon tooth is a 7.48” tooth found near Ocucaje, Peru.

Contrary to popular belief, fossil evidence shows that the Megalodon is NOT in fact closely related to the Great White Shark.

Computer models estimate the Megalodon’s bite force between 24,000 to 40,000 pounds (10,900 to 18,100 kilograms), This is 6-10 times that of the Great White shark and modern crocodiles, This is also 2-3 times that of the estimated bite force of 12,800 pounds for T-Rex and the large Mosasaurs.

According to accounts dating back to the Renaissance, massive triangular teeth were often found buried in rocky mountains and were believed to be the fossilized tongues of dragons and snakes. It wasn’t until 1667 that they were recognized by Danish naturalist Nicolaus Steno as shark teeth.

Megalodon pups were born an estimated 2 to 4 meters in size (6.6.ft – 13.1ft) at birth.

There are three main theories on how Megalodon went extinct:

Oceanic Cooling: This first theory suggests that accelerated changes in global circulation caused by the closure of the Central American Seaway (along with possible other factors such as Pliocene climate) set the stage for the build of of glaciers in the northern hemisphere consequently creating Ice Ages which cooled the oceans substantially. The Megalodon preferred warmer water so this may have impacted their resulted and eventual demise.

Decline in Food Supply: By the end of the Miocene many species that the Megalodon relied on for sustenance became extinct. Also the closure of the Central American Seaway caused further extinctions as well as cause faunal redistribution. This resulted in decreased diversity and abundance of great whales suggesting that most surviving species headed towards polar regions.

New Competition: This last theory is one of the least popular. It suggests that the emergence of raptorial killer whales contributed to the demise of the Megalodon. Fossil records show that the ancient whales could survive the new cold climates thus outlasting the mega tooth sharks.

“Megalodon” originates from two Greek words — megas, signifying “big”, and odont, signifying “tooth”.

Before anyone gets too excited, we have a post here explaining how it’s not possible that Megalodon is still alive,

Polymer absorbs water and expands. It keeps almost the same refractive properties as water and appears invisible.

The polymer is Sodium Polyacrylate (thank you, thecraftychemist!)

source

Stepping on Lava

GIF made by Sixpenceee. Original video via YouTube.

As a paleo-artist, one of my biggest pet peeves are prehistoric whales reconstructed not as whales but as sinewy, snarling, shrink-wrapped marine reptiles. It’s just not a plausible reconstruction, even if it’s highly speculative, and it paints an incorrect image in the public eye. Granted, this is a struggle I’ve exlpored in all forms of paleo-art and reconstructive illustration. But the whales have really been getting to me recently.

Here are some recontructions of Basilosaurus, if you don’t know what I mean (one by Karen Carr, the other by an artist I could not determine):

These snakey, reptilious reconstructions may stem from the fact that Basilosaurus, one of the first early cetaceans to be found, was believed to be a reptile when first discovered (hence the name). Maybe we simply haven’t fully shaken that mindset.

But still! Even the damn Smithsonian, which has such a wonderful collection of ancient cetaceans, is at fault in this:

Don’t even get me started on their recently-closed dinosaur hall. Thank the lord they’re finally renovating that dated piece of crap.

I have struggled to find a way to reconstruct these animals so that they are just a little bit more believeable. Up top I’ve done a really really quick sketch of Dorudon. I tried to not only make its body more streamlined and whale-like (because Dorudon has a lovely, almost but not quite modern-looking skeleton), but I also tried to give it markings similar to what we find on modern cetaceans for camouflage. Because hey, who’s to say they didn’t have ‘em? I tried to make them familiar but not directly copied from any modern species.

Aaaaand end rant.

Vera Rubin, the woman who discovered the first evidence of dark matter, has died at 88

Vera Rubin, the astrophysicist responsible for confirming the first existence of dark matter, died on Sunday night at the age of 88.

Carnegie Institution president Matthew Scott called Rubin “a national treasure as an accomplished astronomer and a wonderful role model for young scientist.”

Rubin and her colleagues observed galaxies in the 1970s, they learned the motion of stars is a result of a “material that does not emit light and extends beyond the optical galaxy” — also known as dark matter.

Swiss astrophysicist Fritz Zwicky proposed the idea of dark matter in 1933, but Rubin’s groundbreaking work subsequently led to the confirmation of the material.

This finding is what led to the discovery that 90% of the universe is made up of dark matter, a finding some colleagues felt was overlooked and deserving of a Nobel Prize. Read more

follow @the-future-now​

Why not just buid a solar panel around the sun to solve all energy problemss?

Behold the Dyson Sphere

Dyson sphere is a hypothetical mega-structure that completely encompasses a star and captures most or all of its power output.

Over the years many variants have been explored:

The simplest such arrangement is the Dyson ring, in which all ‘energy harvesting structures’ share the same orbit.

Add multiple Dyson ring structures and you will get a Dyson swarm.

Now what if you didn’t like a consistent orbit for your structures, you could employ a solar sail to continuously modify its orbit( called a statite ).

Such an arrangement would be known as a Dyson Bubble

Then there is the fictionally popular version - The Dyson Shell, where a uniform solid shell of matter just encapsulates the entire star.

And many many more. But you get the gist.

Could there be Dyson Spheres out there?

When scientists were monitoring the brightness from some stars, they found that it fluctuated in some odd ways like so:

                          Brightness v/s time for KIC 8462852

It is common for such dips to occur since when a planet eclipses a star, there would a drop in the brightness observed from the star.

                       Brightness v/s time for a binary star system

But what was baffling was the duration and period of occurrence of these dips.

Although the main line of rationale remains as asteroid impact remnants or interstellar collisions causing these aberrations in data.

But to say that these could the signs of an alien civilization does remain to be the more entertaining interpretation.

Great Question. Thanks for asking !

** For more information. check out this TED talk

Yes, sure its fun to see a lady spin around like that, but I had one of my friends ask me - “Where do you even use this mate?”

Here’s one application that I know very well off.

Spin Stabilization

If you have ever seen a rocket launch, you might know that sometimes the rockets are given a spin while launching. This is known as spin stabilization.

Basically, the rotational inertia of the rotating body will stabilize the rocket against any disturbances and help maintain its intended heading.

The same principle is used in rifling of firearms as well. **

YoYo DeSpin

Okay, now there is the question how to “De-spin” the rocket:

Well, you do what the lady does: stretch out your arms and you will slow down !

The rocket has weights connected to a cable that stretch out and almost immediately the rocket slows down. This maneuver is known as the YoYo DeSpin. ( Damn good name ! )

All thanks to the conservation of angular momentum !

Have a good one !

* Another method to stabilization : 3-axis stabilization

** Bullets spin stabilization - post

** Source rocket launch video

The Titanoboa, is a 48ft long snake dating from around 60-58million years ago. It had a rib cage 2ft wide, allowing it to eat whole crocodiles, and surrounding the ribcage were muscles so powerful that it could crush a rhino. Titanoboa was so big it couldn’t even spend long amounts of time on land, because the force of gravity acting on it would cause it to suffocate under its own weight.

😈 [http://bit.ly/2jn9ubb]